Procedural Missteps, White Supremacy & Fake Electors, Oh My!

No scriptures, but plenty of nonsense at the Peoria Unified School District Meeting

It’s the Monday after a Peoria Unified School District (PUSD) Governing Board meeting, so you know what that means… That’s right! I am reliving the hellscape that has become the biweekly meeting happening in the West Valley.

Buckle up, Buttercup, because it was one wild ride of procedural missteps, white supremacy, and fake electors (OH MY!). 

The meeting started with a very normal public hearing about the budget. Despite attempts by white Christian nationalist board members to make everything seem like a conspiracy while they whine and cry about the lack of transparency in our public schools, every public district must make their budgets public. Interestingly enough, the same cannot be said for private schools where the students aren’t tested, the curriculum doesn’t require approval, and administrators can deny admission or employment for any reason at all. 

And don’t even get me started on the lack of accountability for homeschoolers. 

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By the way, I have to give props to PUSD’s CFO, Michelle Myers, for always being a pro at these meetings. When you’re dealing with rogue board members who like to throw Molotov cocktails over the most benign agenda items, it’s hard to anticipate what will come up every meeting. 

But Ms. Myers is so knowledgeable, calm, and fully prepared - her voice is so soothing, and she knows her stuff forward and backwards. She’s a real gem, and I hope that she can weather the storm of crazy she’s dealing with. 

It was around the end of this presentation that Fake Elector and J6 Insurrectionist, AZ State Senator Anthony Kern (R-LD27) showed up. His TPUSA groupies and a couple of PUSD QAnon candidates were there, and when they noticed him at the back of the room, they looked downright smitten. 

It was cute. I however, don’t get it: 

Despite their promise to never vote for anything again, Board Members Rooks and Hill voted “yes” along with the rest of the board to approve the 2024 Expenditure Budget.

At this point, the regular meeting started, complete with a moment of silence and the Pledge. I should note that Board Members Ewing and Sandoval were absent from the meeting, but both were phoning in. Items from the agenda were pulled and moved around, and there were a few procedural missteps since Clerk Rooks was chairing her first meeting. After the agenda was settled, it was time for Board Comments. 

What happened next was a surprise. President Sandoval logged off of the meeting. 

Despite the fact that there were 38 items that required a vote, and that three consent agenda items were pulled, he logged off. 

Now, if he was sick, I get it. But if Hill and Rooks have taught us anything, even the most benign items are up for scrutiny. So, it’s kind of important that board members attend every board meeting and stay for the duration of the meeting. I mean, these folks are here for the whole shebang… 

…so we need to be there too.

Next up, a meeting regular and long-time educator came up to comment on the board comments section of the meeting, and spoke about the constant “proselytizing and attempted indoctrination” by Board Members Hill and Rooks. She asked them to stop and submitted a formal request for them to stop with the god-bothering already, to act professionally, and to knock it off with the online bullying. She knew her stuff and brought receipts, and I still believe she would make an AMAZING board member. 

Then Board Member Ewing gave an update from her phone, as she was still in attendance at the meeting. Her update was about normal stuff, and I got lost for a second in my gratitude for her service to PUSD. 

I was slapped back into reality as Board Member Hill gave her update, and OF COURSE opened with her BS bastardization of the district motto, once again denying the existence of trans girls and women. 

Interestingly enough, she did NOT read scripture, but said (GET THIS!) that when she took her oath to join the board, she didn’t take an oath to the Constitution, she took an oath to god.

Yup, you read that right, she doesn’t get that her oath is to the Constitution and she doesn’t understand the first amendment. We already knew that she doesn’t get how science works, and now this (oh, and just WAIT till you hear her thoughts on Computer Science). 

I gotta admit her bold ignorance was something to behold, but I will be happy when I no longer have to behold it. 

Next up, Clerk Rooks surprisingly did not parrot the whole “Every Student, Every Day…” nonsense, but what she said next definitely surprised a lot of us. She said that she received a letter from the school district directing her to refrain from reading bible scripture at board meetings and that “the district asserts that doing so violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment based upon the district's letter.” 

Hmmmm…interesting. She’s received several letters: from Secular AZ, from Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF), from the PUSD attorney… why the sudden change of heart? Well, her next sentence caused me to speculate about what may have happened. 

She said, “I will refrain from reciting Bible verses at this time and will have my attorneys at First Liberty Institute handle this matter.”

OK. So let’s break this down. 

First, her wording, “the district asserts that doing so violates the establishment clause of the First Amendment based upon the district's letter.” She admits no wrongdoing, but asserts that this stance belongs to the district, and not to like, anyone who reads the Constitution. 

Next, she’s getting legal counsel from First Liberty Institute. These are the folks who defend evangelical cake bakers, postal workers, and homophobic judges, and their pockets are deep. 

So I have a theory here…I think that perhaps these two board members were served with a lawsuit since the last meeting, and that is why they were less extra at this meeting, but if they’re receiving counsel from a behemoth like First Liberty, I’m concerned. 

Next up was interim superintendent, Kevin Molino, and really, anyone willing to step into a role like this in such a toxic, abusive, work environment is either crazy or a freaking superhero, so this is a big shout out to all superintendents (not you, Dysart), teachers, administrators, and classified staff who are still willing to step up for all kids in our public schools. 

Next up, everyone’s (least?) favorite, Public Comments!

The public comments at this meeting were kicked off by a PUSD educator who has been on the receiving end of some pretty nasty stuff. This educator happens to be trans, and last school year, notified staff via email that some students were participating in the “Trans Day of Visibility” and explained what that meant and how staff could support. 

A staff member apparently shared this email with Rooks’ West Valley Parents Uniting group, and then-candidate Rooks went on a social media rampage where she shared the teacher’s name and tagged a whole bunch of deplorable elected officials and extremist group, Moms for Liberty: 

After Rooks was elected, she and Hill voted against approving contracts and again, called out this teacher BY NAME in an attempt to non-renew their contract and that of another teacher. 

The educator, River Chunnui, shared their thoughts about the bullying behavior happening in the boardroom in PUSD. They pointed out their hateful, transphobic vitriol, and at that point, Board Member Hill called a point of order, saying, “you’re not allowed to call me transphobic,” and the crowd erupted in cries of “shame on you!” 

I gotta admit at this point, I was impressed by Board Member Rooks’ gaveling skillz. She warned that if there were further outbursts, she’d have audience members removed.

Chunnui continued, citing a “moral responsibility to speak out against discrimination and injustice even when those who commit such acts are in positions of power.” They went on to cite the higher rates of suicide among LGBTQ students, and that the grownups damn-well better model good behavior for the kids in the district. 

Their speech was followed by raucous applause, and it was nice that FOR ONCE in PUSD the voices of love and acceptance outnumbered the voices of hatred and bigotry. 

Next up was the same teacher who spoke about bullying before board comments and promised to show up at every meeting going forward. I love this for Hill and Rooks. 

2024 PUSD candidate, Nationally Board Certified Teacher (NBCT), and (actual) science educator, Melissa Girmscheid was next and pleaded with board members to stop spouting falsehoods and posting their bullying BS on social media. Next, I was up and simply dropped some definitions of “diversity,” “equity,” “inclusion,” and “bullying.” 

After that, Lil Benji Larrabee gave the strangest rant about the Establishment Clause, COVID, childhood obesity, Child Sexual Abuse (CSA), teacher-predators, ER visits for mental health related issues, read John 3:16, and declared that Christians are all super-persecuted, and ended by saying “Christ is King, y’all!”

It was super weird and hard to follow because he blamed COVID for childhood obesity because adults fed them garbage food while on lockdown or something like that?? It was so confusing, and really, you just gotta see it to believe it.

Next up were a few more meeting regulars: Adorable Grandma, Amazing Ironwood Teacher, a PUSD teacher who is leaving the district because of all the drama (another school board candidate perhaps?), “Cannot-Read-the-Room” Christina, and what meeting would be complete without Jodi “Manilla Envelope” Brackett who once again “served” the board, accusing them of “malenadministration” and “malenafeasance.” (sic)

OK y’all, at this point, I kind of lost it. The parade of nonsense was just never-ending, and I was overcome by how absolutely ridiculous a simple school board meeting had become. 

Clerk Rooks was visibly ruffled by the public comments this week, and seemed relieved that they were moving on to the next agenda items. 

The first item that was pulled from the consent agenda was about a partnership with Microsoft Philanthropies Technology Education And Learning Support (TEALS) Program “designed to introduce computer science into schools under [the] School District's umbrella of responsibility. The TEALS program pairs trained computer science professionals from across the technology industry who volunteer their time to work with classroom teachers to team-teach computer science.” 

Did you all catch that? This is a free program where tech pros volunteer their time to team-teach with classroom teachers to get kids interested in the very much needed, and lucrative field of computer science. No one could possibly oppose this, right?

Well, of course they did, because the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) mentioned offering these kinds of supports so that they can encourage more people of color to get involved in computer programming. Speakers (wrongly) insisted this was segregation, and said it was a violation of the recent SCOTUS decision striking down Affirmative Action in institutions of higher learning (it’s not). 

But none of that matters when you get your news from Fox News and Moms for Liberty. 

Board Members Hill and Rooks once again proved to everyone in attendance that they really don't understand their role or how school boards, vendor contracts, and MOUs work. Hill even said several times that she didn’t understand what this program was, that she didn’t know how much it costs (NOTHING), that it violates the recent SCOTUS decision (IT DOESN’T), and then went on to say that the district should be doing all this themselves instead of accepting free help from one of the top computer/software companies in the world. 

There was a wild rant about why we shouldn’t offer this stuff when some kids don’t even know how to create a Microsoft Word document, Powerpoint presentation, or type, and Clerk Rooks claimed to have spoken with administration to get a better understanding and then said that since Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) were mentioned, it essentially gave her the “icks”.

At this point, Board Member Dr. Sorensen (an actual educator) was visibly frustrated and various members of district leadership practically pleaded with Rooks and Hill to use their brains. 

Spoiler alert: they didn’t. 

So here we are at a time when tech companies are DESPERATE to find software developers, engineers, and architects - so much so they are offering FREE programs to school districts to help facilitate that. Yet two radical, right wing, Christian nationalist board members voted against it. Since President Sandoval left the meeting early that night, the motion failed, 2-2-1. 

Folks, if that isn’t enough for you to get more involved in school board politics, I don’t know what it will take. 

Secular AZ is taking a stand against the influence of Christian Nationalism in our school boards and in local and state government. We may be small, but we’re scrappy…

…and we’re up against a very (very) well-funded juggernaut of organizations like First Liberty, who dedicate millions of dollars to fights like these. 

Will you help us take a stand? Become a member or donate today.